WILLIAM BEAUMONT and HIS BOOK ELISHA NORTH and HIS COPY of BEAUMONT’S BOOK* by WILLIAM SNOW MILLER, M.D., SC.D

WILLIAM BEAUMONT AND HIS BOOK ELISHA NORTH AND HIS COPY OF BEAUMONT’S BOOK* By WILLIAM SNOW MILLER, M.D., SC.D.

MADISON, WISCONSIN

N 1833, Dr. William Beaumont duced me to his patients, told them that published at Plattsburgh, New it was his last visit and that he was York, a book bearing the title turning over to me all of his patients. “Experiments and Observations Some days after this he called me Ion the Gastric Juice, and the Physiolinto- his office and ottered to give me ogy of Digestion.” This was not a his library. Alas! I did not at that “pot boiler” as are many of the time possess any knowledge of medical modern books. It was a scientific history nor did I recognize the value treatise, based on observations which of his books. The old Doctor took no other person had recorded. It is down several volumes and insisted one of the outstanding contributions that 1 take them, “for,” he said, made by The United States of “they are unusual books;” one of America to scientific medicine.1 these was the volume under consideration. Histor y of AIy Copy of Beaum ont In 1886, unable to endure the The history of my copy of Beau- strenuousness of a country practice, mont is interesting. It belonged and recognizing an increasing diffi- originally to Elisha North, a dis- culty in hearing, I gave up the prac- tinguished physician, who spent the tice of medicine and resolved to devote greater part of his professional life at my time to research. After wandering New London, Connecticut. He paid from one institution to another in S2.00 for it, as he recorded on the this country and spending some time inside of the front cover.2 in Germany, I settled at the Uni- Shortly after graduating from the versity of Wisconsin. Medical Department of Yale in 1879, Eventually I became interested in I began the practice of medicine in the history of medicine and I wrote to South Britain, Connecticut, a well- the widow of the old Doctor and asked to-do farming community. The only her what information she could give physician in the place, Dr. Nathan C. me in regard to Elisha North, and Baldwin, was retiring from practice how her husband happened to have on account of age and ill-health. He so many books which formerly belonged to that class of physicians, belonged to him? From her reply I now practically extinct, known as the abstract the following: “old family physician.” He was I have delayed replying to your letter unusually well informed and had an hoping to be able to gather some facts extensive library. Very generously he relating to Dr. Elisha North. Unfortu- took me with him on his rounds the nately I have not been successful. I never day after I reached the place, intro- met him, nor have I heard much about *Read before the Medical History Seminar, University of Wisconsin, 1926; also by invitation before a conjoint meeting of the Institute of Medicine and the Society of Medical History of Chicago, Jan. 25, 1929. him. My husband’s first wife was a The Book distant relative and the families While the work of Beaumont was exchanged frequent visits. the first exhaustive treatise on the physiology of digestion, there had appeared earlier in the century three notable theses on the subject from the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania. The first of these by Dr. John R. Young, was published in 1803 and bore the title “An Experimental Inquiry into the Principles of Nutrition and the Diges- My husband, Dr. Baldwin, was born in tive Process.” The second was by Dr. New York City, February 16, 1814. His Oliver H. Spencer, with the title childhood was spent there, excepting “Experiments and Observations on occasional visits in the summer to his Digestion;” also published in 1803. Grandfather in Woodbridge, Connecticut. His parents died when he was fourteen or The third was by Dr. Thomas Ewell fifteen years old. He prepared for college whose thesis, written in 1804, was at a school in Derby, Connecticut; quite published in 1805, with the title a noted school at that time. He did not “Notes on the Stomach and Secre- immediately enter the Yale Medical tion.” The first of these theses has School, but took a position for a while as been described in detail by Dr. book keeper in the Chemical factory in Howard A. Kelly, and I have called New York, formerly owned, and also attention to the work of Ewell.4 established by his father, Hezekiah Har- In his introductory chapter, Beau- vey Baldwin.3 mont describes the accident to Alexis While there he had a very severe St. Martin which, after his recovery, illness from which he was not expected to left him with a gastric fistula. Myer,5 recover. His physicians said in case he survived his nerves would be ruined for in his “Life and Letters of Dr. William life; this proved to be a sad fact. After Beaumont,” collected a number of regaining some measure of health he cases which had been described entered the Yale Medical School. On previous to the time of Beaumont; graduating from it (1837) he opened an but Beaumont was the first to take office on Chapel St., New Haven, where advantage of the opportunity, thus he remained till he was invited to remove presented, to learn more about the pro- to South Britain in the summer of 1840, cess of digestion. He describes his obse r- and where he practiced medicine till your vations under the following heads: arrival in 1881. He passed away Decem- ber 24, 1885. 1. Of Aliment. Such is the history of the book up to 2. Of Hunger and Thirst. 3. Of Satisfaction and Satiety. the time it came into my possession. 4. Of Mastication, Insalivation and I have seen six copies of the first Deglutition. edition of Beaumont, and all of them 5. Of Digestion by the Gastric Juice. have belonged to Connecticut country 6. Of the Appearance of the Villous physicians. This speaks well for the Coat, and of the Motions of the Stomach. interest the “old family physician” 7. Of Chylification, and Uses of the Bile took in Beaumont and his work. and Pancreatic Juice. If we recall that Prout6 had observation that digestion was not announced, in 1824, that the acidity merely “division and depuration” as of the gastric juice was due to the often taught, since blood underwent presence of hydrochloric acid, and the same digestive process as any not to phosphoric acid or lactic acid other substance. It was not until the as many thought; that Hoppc-Seyler,7 time of Emil Fischer10 and his analysis who introduced the word “proteid” of proteins into their amino acids, into physiology was a boy only that the views of Beaumont received eight years old, and that the word their demonstration. “enzyme”8 had not been coined, it Beaumont presented extensive is of interest to see what Beaumont tables giving the length of time vari- had to say on these various topics. ous foods required to become digested For the following resume of Beau- in the stomach. These data still mont’s work I must acknowledge my remain valuable and a great contribu- indebtedness to Prof. W. J. Meek, of tion to practical dietetics. the Department of Physiology at the Beaumont noted that oily sub- University of Wisconsin. He has, very stances are digested with great diffi- generously, permitted me to make use culty and that they delayed the of the notes he presented on the work passage of venison and steak (proof Beaumont at the time I read this teins) for some time. “Crude vege- paper, and has been of material tables, by some law of the animal assistance in calling my attention to economy, not well understood, are the work of more recent physiologists allowed, even when the stomach is which has confirmed the earlier obser- in a healthy state, sometimes to pass vations of Beaumont. the pyloric orifice, while other food 1. Of Alime nt . Minuteness of is retained there to receive the solvent division and tenderness of fiber are action of the gastric juice.” the two grand essentials for speedy Condiments, particularly those of and easy digestion. a spicy kind, alcohol and other stimu- “The digestion of animal and vege- lants such as tea and coffee were all table diet requires the same process. condemned as producing an indirect Generally speaking, vegetable aliment debility of the stomach. requires more time and probably 2. Of Hung er and Thirst . Beau- greater powers of the gastric organs, mont recognized the true hunger pain. than animal.” Pawlow9 in his Phy- It is surprising that he missed the siology of Digestion amply substan- contractions associated with it. He tiated these statements. More of the rejects the idea that hunger is due 'ferment pepsin was shown to be put to the rubbing together of the walls out for bread than for meat. of the empty stomach, else we would “The ultimate principles of nutri- feel hungry immediately after vomit- ment are probably always the same ing or in fevers. He does not believe whether obtained from animal or it is the presence of a quantity of vegetable diet.” Beaumont’s argu- gastric juice in the otherwise empty ment here was based not only on the organ, for if there were juice there similar appearance of chyme when which he unfortunately doubted, it subjected either to gastric, hepatic, or is non-irritant to the stomach. Beau- pancreatic fluids, but on the shrewder mont was a modern mechanistic physiologist and Magendie’s fine phrase tition would not be necessary.” He that “hunger is produced like all disagreed entirely with Jackson,12 who other internal secretions, by the action had recently written that the saliva of the nervous system, and it has no was the principal solvent of ali- other seat than in this system itself,” mentary matter, for in his artificial brought to his mind no satisfactory digestions saliva seemed of no impor- understanding.11 Beaumont finally tance. True information in this field decided that the sense of hunger was had here to wait for chemical produced by a distention of the advances. It was not until 1848 that gastric vessels, or that apparatus Fehling introduced his test and made which secretes the gastric juice. This it possible to study carbohydrate he saw full and distended in the digestion.13 stomach. Inflammation, a distention Mastication and insalivation were, of the blood vessels produces pain, however, mechanically of great impor- but not the hunger pain from distance according to Beaumont. Food tended gastric vessels. His logic at not well chewed and introduced into least was not bad. the stomach in too large particles had 3. Satisf action and Satiet y . other changes taking place in it besides This is a plea for the former. Beaumont digestive ones. Here was a hint at believed in abstemious habits. He true fermentation. If the food is believed that there was conveyed retained in the stomach over five to from the stomach to the encephalic ten hours or if it is permitted to pass center perfect intelligence regarding into the intestines without proper the proper quantity of food. Satis- chymification, very distressing symp- faction was when the stomach says toms of colic, flatulence, etc., result. enough; satiety when the stomach It is interesting to note that Beau- says too much. “To effect this most mont missed the storage action of the agreeable of all sensations and condi- fundus, although it is hard to believe tions—the real Elysian satisfaction of that Alexis’ stomach did not show it. the reasonable Epicure—timely atten- On the contrary Beaumont believed tion must be paid to the preliminary that the stomach was not designed processes, such as thorough masti- to receive any more food than it could cation and moderate or slow deglu- mix with the juice already present. tition.” Beaumont’s conclusions again This idea came from the pathology are extremely good. He did not know of Alexis’ orifice for, on introducing of reflex and psychic secretion of solids through it, that portion of the gastric juice through the vagus nerve, stomach contracted and allowed no but he knew, nevertheless, some very more to be introduced for some 50-80 correct dietetic habits. seconds. 4. Of Masti catio n , Insalivati on 5. Of Diges tio n by the Gast ric and Deglutiti on . Beaumont cor- Juice . One of the remarkable things rectly gauged these processes as non- about Beaumont was his familiarity essentials to chymification, and says with the scientific literature of the that “if the materia alimentaria could day. He quotes Spallanzani, Tiede- be introduced into the stomach in a mann and Gmelin, Leuret, Lassaigne, finely divided state the operations of Paris, Jackson, Broussais, Richerand, mastication, insalivation and deglu- and many others. Spallanzani had practically overthrown the old idea strated by Carlson.15 He did note, that gastric action was one of putre- however, the effect of fear and anger faction, trituration, fermentation and in checking the secretion. The imme- maceration.14 The experiments on diate stimulus to secretion according Alexis, however, put these unfounded to Beaumont was the mechanical hypotheses to rest forever in favor irritation of the gastric papillae by of the true theory of chemical solu- the food itself. He secured a flow by tions. Since juice taken from the stimulating the inside of Alexis’ stom- stomach as long as a year previous ach with a thermometer bulb or a remained pure and exerted its diges- rubber tube. It is probable that this tive action undiminished, Beaumont was really an example of a psychic concluded that the main action of the secretion. gastric juice was that of a solvent. It 6. Of the Appearance of the Vil - was only the general ignorance con- lous Coat and of the Motio ns of cerning the chemistry of carbohy- the Stom ach . Beaumont describes drates and fats that led him to go too the appearance of the mucous lining far and say that it was the only solvent. of the stomach both at rest and in Beaumont recognized the acidity action. He never found any juice in of normal gastric juice and submitted the fasting stomach. The presence samples to Professor Dunglison at of bile in the stomach was often the University of Virginia and to noted, reminding one of Boldyreff’s Professor Silliman at Yale. Both of observations.16 these investigators reported the pres- In regard to the movements of the ence of free hydrochloric acid. This stomach, Beaumont believed that the was important in confirming the work circular and longitudinal muscular of Prout, and settling the controversy coats contracted together producing as to whether the acid was acetic, a churning of the gastric contents, a phosphoric or lactic. Beaumont’s phrase which remained in physiology description of the pure gastric juice for many a day. The layering described was noteworthy: by Wilson Philip17 and later verified by the roentgen ray, he denied. In It is a clear, transparent fluid; inodor- ous, a little saltish; and very perceptibly emptying the stomach he believed acid. It is readily diffusible in water, wine, that the transverse band of muscle or spirits; slightly effervesces with alka- prevented any regurgitation into the lis; and is an effectual solvent of the fundus and allowed the pyloric portion matena alimentaria. It possesses the of the stomach, as a whole, to exert property of coagulating albumen in an pressure on its contents and force eminent degree; it is powerfully antiseptic, them through the pylorus. Solids checking the putrefaction of meat; and excited the pylorus to closure and effectually restorative of healthy action, thus only liquids passed through. when applied to old, foetid sores, and foul 7. Of Chy lifi cati on and Uses ulcerating surfaces. of the Bile and Pancreatic Juice . Beaumont thought that no juice The effect of bile and pancreatic was secreted until food entered the juice on the chyme was quite mysteri- stomach. He thus missed both the ous to Beaumont, but he recognized psychic secretion of Pawlow and the that it consisted of a series of chemical constant, continuous secretion demon- changes. Will iam Beaum ont tice medicine by the “Third Medical It is not necessary to give an Society of the State of Vermont, as extended sketch of Beaumont’s life, established by law.” Myer reproduces for this has already been done by the original of this license, which Myer,5 and the following brief out- was granted “the 2d Tuesday of line is taken, in the main, from his June, a .d . 1812.” Beaumont remained sketch. with Dr. Chandler until September 8, William Beaumont was born at 1812. On his departure, Dr. Chandler Lebanon, Connecticut, November 21, gave Beaumont a certificate in which 1785. He was the third child, and the he is described as a “safe and second son, of Samuel and Lucretia Judicious Practitioner.” (Abel) Beaumont. Of his boyhood War with England had been practically nothing is known. In the declared on June 18, 1812, and Beau- winter of 1806-1807, when twenty-one mont saw an opportunity to display years of age, he left home and jour- his patriotism and put into practice neyed north. In the spring of 1807 he his knowledge of medicine and surgery. arrived at the village of Champlain, Accordingly he crossed Lake Cham- New York. Here he not only taught plain to Plattsburgh, New York, the village school and tended store, and presented his credentials to the but he also began the study of medi- proper authorities. These were cine, reading books borrowed from promptly accepted, and on September Dr. Pomeroy of Burlington, Vermont. 13, 1812, he began his duties as James H. Lockwood, in his “Early surgeon’s mate. On December 2, 1812, Times and Events in Wisconsin” President Madison issued his com- says: “In the summer of 1808, 1 mission. January 1, 1913, due to the boarded at Champlain Village, and inactivity of the division of the army attended the school taught by the with which he was connected, he late Dr. William Beaumont, who was began private practice in Plattsburgh, then a student of medicine. Under his but returned to active work in the tuition I greatly improved myself in army February 15, 1813. He was grammar, geography, &c., but at that present at the battle of Little York19 early day I never saw a school and attended many of the soldiers atlas. ”18 who were injured by the treacherous In the fall of 1810, Beaumont went blowing-up of the magazine by the to St. Albans, Vermont, and appren- British, when they evacuated the ticed himself to Dr. Benjamin fort. He was also present at the Chandler. During his apprenticeship battle of Plattsburgh. The treaty of he kept a note book which contained Ghent was concluded in December, “some of his first lessons in prescrip- 1814, and ratified in February, 1815, tion writing” and notes on “the thus bringing the war to a successful important diseases with which he termination. came in contact.” Myer gives inter- When the army was reduced by esting abstracts from this note book President Madison in March, 1815, which show his care in making and Beaumont was one of the medical recording his observations. officers to be retained, while others Having completed his apprentice- “higher in rank and older in service ship, Beaumont was licensed to prac- were dropped.” This was a high testimonial to the efficiency of his and was commissioned post surgeon work in the army. Nevertheless, Beau- by President Monroe on March 18, mont resigned from the army late 1820, his rank to take date from

December 4, 1819. He was immediately ordered to report to General Macomb for duty at Fort Mackinac.20 This he did, after a short visit to his relatives in Connecticut, arriving at Fort Mackinac on the evening of June 16, 1820, and on June 18, 1820, he assumed charge of the hospital and began his long and honorable service in the U. S. Army. When Beaumont reentered the army, he left behind him at Platts- burgh a young widow, Deborah (Green) Platt, who had become his in 1815; and from that time until fiancee. She was a “young woman of December, 1819, he engaged in private much culture, and great strength of practice in Plattsburgh, combining character, generous, genial, industri- with this a general grocery store in ous, sympathetic, and endowed with which choice brands of wine, New physical beauty.” It is no wonder that England rum, codfish, Spanish segars his whole heart was not in his work and drugs formed a part of the stock. and that he longed for her com- During this time he had as a partner panionship. Accordingly he applied Dr. Senter, another army surgeon, in March, 1821, for leave of absence to and later, a man by the name of return to Plattsburgh to be married. Wheelock. This was granted on the condition In 1818, Dr. Joseph Lovell was that he obtain some one to supply his appointed Surgeon General of the place while absent. He left Mackinac army, and immediately set about August 9, 1821; was married soon after reorganization of the service. With his arrival at Plattsburgh, August 28, the establishment of the new grades 1821, and he left at once for Mackinac. introduced by Lovell, Beaumont Mrs. Beaumont showed her applied for readmission into the army, Quaker lineage by her hospitality, and exercised a refining influence who were busily engaged in exchang- over her husband’s fellow-officers; ing their pelts for other commodities. there were at this time but twelve “A gun was accidentally discharged,

white women on the island. The Beaumonts had their home within the fort, and in time their little daughter, and a young voyageur dropped to the Sarah, arrived to brighten their life. floor, with a cavity in the upper The history of the American Fur abdomen that would have admitted Company, interesting as it is, forms a man’s fist.” Such is the origin of too long a story to be told here. the wound in the stomach of Alexis St. The War of 1812 put an end to the Martin. schemes of John Jacob Astor, and The story of the care of Alexis Mackinac became the center of a during his long and tedious recovery

has been fully told by Beaumont and by Myer, so a repetition is not series of trading posts. Later, another necessary; the only fact to be noted of his posts, Prairie du Chien, entered here is that during this period, in into the life of Beaumont. In the addition to his own family, Beaumont meantime, however, an important supported Alexis, and that his salary event happened at Mackinac, impor- was $40.00 a month with two to four tant in the life of Beaumont, and rations daily. important in the history of physiology. In the latter part of May, 1825, On June 6, 1822, the retail store of Beaumont was transferred to Fort the American Fur Company was Niagara; but previous to his removal crowded with Indians and voyageurs he had begun in a desultory way his first experiments. In July he was Wisconsin Territory, where he arrived granted a two months’ furlough and early in June, 1826. Here he spent two he left Niagara for Plattsburgh, taking enjoyable years, built up a reputation as a successful practitioner and surgeon, and acquired considerable property which is still in the possession of the family. “The Beaumont homestead in Green Bay is filled with treasures inherited from the handsome St. Louis residence,” Beaumont’s home after leaving the army. In 1828, Beaumont was ordered from Fort Howard to Fort Crawford, Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, where he arrived August 10, 1828. Beaumont’s life at Fort Mackinac, and at Fort Howard, has been described by Myer, Alexis with him. Here he conducted and that at Fort Howard has also his first series of four experiments. been described by Deborah Beaumont The proximity of Plattsburgh to his Martin. Although Beaumont’s second old home in Canada caused Alexis to series of experiments (56 in number)

take “French leave,” and the experi- were conducted at Fort Crawford, ments came to a temporary end. beyond the bare fact practically noth- Late in May, 1826, Beaumont ing has appeared in print concerning received orders to accompany the Beaumont’s life at Prairie du Chien troops to Fort Howard, Green Bay, except the few items given by Myer. The history of “Old Fort Crawford” service,” and was appointed super- has been told in a very interesting intendent for the Indians west of Lake manner by Bruce E. Mahon, but he Michigan.22 There was danger of the control of the Upper Mississippi pass- ing into the hands of the British. This led to the building of a fort in 1814, at Prairie du Chien, which was named Fort Shelby, in honor of the Governor of Kentucky. As soon as this was known, a force of British sympath- izers and Indians was assembled by Dickson and, under the command of Lieut. Colonel McKay, they marched against Fort Shelby. They arrived at Prairie du Chien July 17, 1814. After a two days’ siege the fort surrendered, and was rechristened Fort McKay, in says nothing about Beaumont and his honor of its captor.23 On May 20, experiments.21 1815, official word reached Fort The flood plain situated just above McKay that peace had been restored the confluence of the Wisconsin with between the United States and Great the Mississippi has played an impor- Britain, and two days later, May 22, tant part in the conquest of the North 1815, the fort was evacuated and the West. “It was a convenient meeting British control of the Upper Miss- place for the Indians and the traders issippi ended.24 of the Upper Valley.” In 1685, a The signing of the treaty at Ghent Frenchman, by the name of Perrot, did not, however, bring peace to the established a series of forts, or trading Northwest. The British traders still posts, along the banks of the held their influence over the Indians Mississippi, and one of them was and at the same time continued to situated on the lower edge of this smuggle goods from Canada into the plain. By another century Spanish, Upper Mississippi valley. To close the British and American traders had line of communication and reassert come into this region, and a trader’s control over the Northwest, the U. S. war was carried on between them for War Department decided to erect a the control of the fur trade and for the series of forts, and one of them was territory bordering on the Mississippi. located at Prairie du Chien. For a time the Spanish and British Fort McKay had been burned after held the upper hand, but with the its evacuation by the British. The “Louisiana Purchase” in 1803, both new fort, which was named Fort sides of the Mississippi came under the Crawford in honor of the Secretary control of the Americans. of War, was built in 1816, on the site On the declaration of war with of the former Fort Shelby or, as it Great Britain in 1812, the British was called after its occupation by the called the Indians to their aid. British, Fort McKay. Robert Dickson “became a successful The location was unfortunate. Being recruiter of Indians for the British situated on the flood plain of the Mississippi it was subject to occasional in October, 1826, for its permanent inundation; for, in its early as well abandonment. Early in 1827, however, as its late history, the Mississippi has the threatened outbreak of war with

overflowed its banks. In 1822, a flood covered the parade with between three and four feet of water and, entering the quarters of the garrison, it compelled the officers and soldiers to encamp for nearly a month on the high ground back of the fort. Atwater describes the situation of the fort as the Winnebago Indians caused the being too low, and “that nearly every reoccupation and repair of the fort. summer, during the dog days, its site Early in 1829 the commandant of is under water from six to ten feet Fort Crawford was directed, without in depth, from the overflow of the delay, to select a new site for the river.”25 From this time on a series fort. A preliminary survey had already of reports to the War Department been made, and a plot about two criticised the situation of the fort, not miles south of the “old fort” was only because of its being subject to selected and purchased. Work was floods which saturated the floors and begun in May, 1829, on the new fort timbers of the fort with a damp (the old name being retained, they sediment which caused much sickness, spoke of the “Old Fort” and the but also because it was undesirable “New” Fort Crawford), but it was from a military standpoint. Matters not completed until 1834, work being were hastened by a flood in May, 1826, interrupted by the Black Hawk War which covered the site of the village and an epidemic of cholera in which of Prairie du Chien and the fort with 100 soldiers died. such a depth of water that steamboats It was into these surroundings that could pass over it, and caused the fort Beaumont moved when ordered from to be abandoned for the time being.26 Fort Howard, where he and his wife An official inspection of the fort had formed many friendships in the in August, 1826, showed that it was garrison and in the little village of “unfit for occupancy without exten- Green Bay on the opposite side of sive repairs.” This fact, taken in the river, and where they had been connection with its frequent inun- comfortably housed in a building dation, led to the issuing of an order which is still standing. Atwater25 mentions some of the he lived at Prairie du Chien and hardships with which the officers and where Beaumont’s experiments were their families had to contend at Fort performed is uncertain. As already Crawford: stated, it is probable that Beaumont occupied quarters within the old fort, Lieut. Col. Z. Taylor, has been in the and St. Martin must have lived in the Indian country constantly with his family immediate neighborhood; for “he per- about twenty years. Here he and his lady, who were bred up in the most formed all the ordinary duties of a polished and refined society, have been common servant.” The experiments compelled to rear up as well as they could, could not have been performed at the a worthy and most interesting family of hospital connected with the new fort, children. Col. Taylor commands Fort for it was not completed until after Crawford, at Prairie du Chien. Dr. Beaumont left Prairie du Chien; it Beaumont and his amiable and accom- seems quite probable, therefore, that plished lady; Major Garland and his, they were performed in the log hospi- belonging to this garrison, are doing the tal connected with the old fort. same. It is an interesting sight, to see Thus it seems that, though Beau- such persons located as they are, in a fort, mont performed fifty-six of his experi- on the very verge of civilized life, educat- ments at Prairie du Chien and that ing a family of young children. in many respects they were of great The officers of the fort had a library importance, for they formed the basis and reading room, which they main- of all later work, no trace can be tained at their own expense, that found of where they were done. contained not only general literature, Prairie du Chien has changed the but also works on geography, mathe- name of Beaumont Street to Church matics, chemistry and other sciences Street, evidently having no desire to connected with their profession. perpetuate the fact that at one time Where Beaumont lived at Fort the leader in American physiology, Crawford is uncertain. At Fort and a faithful army surgeon, lived Howard the surgeon’s quarters were in their midst. outside of the fort proper, but at The new fort had an interesting Fort Crawford they seem to have history. It was here, while under the been within the fort, and I can find command of Col. Zachary Taylor, no evidence that he ever lived at the that Lieutenant Jefferson Davis wooed new fort. Lockwood, in his “Early and won the heart of Sarah Knox Times and Events in Wisconsin”18 Taylor, the daughter of his command- says: “In 1831 it [the new fort] was ing officer, and in spite of parental occupied with a part of the troops, opposition married her. The oft-told leaving the sick in the old hospital, tale that they eloped is not true; they and the surgeon in the new fort.” were married at the home of her Dr. P. L. Scanlon, of Prairie du father’s sister, near Louisville, Ken- Chien,27 writes me that it was Decem- tucky, with the knowledge, but with- ber 16, 1830, that this removal of a out the approval, of her father. portion of the troops from the old to Fort Crawford no longer exists. the new fort took place. “As long as the Winnebago Indians The quarters occupied by St. Mar- remained in Wisconsin there was need tin at Mackinac are known; but where of a garrison at Fort Crawford.” Eventually a treaty was concluded carrying burthens, &c., with little or no with the Winnebago which was pro- suffering or inconvenience from his claimed the law of the land on wound. He labored constantly, became February 4, 1847. Under the terms the father of more children, and enjoyed of this treaty they agreed to remove as good health and as much vigor as men to a new home in Minnesota. This in general. He subsisted on crude food, in abundant quantities, except when on was finally accomplished in the sum- prescribed diet, for particular experi- mer of 1848, and Fort Crawford, being mental purposes, and under special no longer needed, was evacuated in observance. April, 1849. After its evacuation the fort had a checkered career, and was Eight experiments between Decem- finally sold at auction in 1868. Its ber 6, 1829, and March 16, 1830, were site is now occupied by Saint Mary’s devoted to ascertain any variation in College, a school for girls. The only the gastric temperature and whether part of the fort remaining is the ruin the atmospheric temperature had any of the hospital. The prison window influence. Beaumont found that the has been removed from its original ordinary temperature of the stomach position to one on the grounds of the was io o °f ., “adry atmosphere increas- College. Mahon says that the old ing, and a humid one diminishing it.” military cemetery “is now a well-kept Fifteen experiments were made to park.” I found this to be the case ascertain whether the “gastric juice when I made a visit to Prairie du accumulated in the stomach, during Chien, and it reflects credit on the periods of fasting, or even from the Daughters of the American Revolu- immediate and direct influence of tion, who, I understand, care for it. hunger.” St. Martin left Beaumont in Sep- As the result of these experiments tember, 1825, and remained in Canada he found “that the stomach contains four years; during this time he married no gastric juice, in a free state when and had two children. I11 1827, W. W. aliment is not present. Any digestible Matthews, an agent of the American or irritating substance, when applied Fur Company, discovered the where- to the internal coat, excites the action abouts of St. Martin and communi- of the gastric vessels. Hence 1 infer cated the same to Beaumont; but it that the fluid, in these experiments, required two more years before he was incited to discharge itself by could be induced “after considerable irritation of the tube used in extract- difficulty, and at great expense,” to ing it.” (See page 159.) From the last again enter the employment of Beau- of this series of experiments, which mont. At the end of that time, in was conducted while St. Martin com- August, 1829, St. Martin and his plained of some headache and loss of family were transported from Canada appetite, Beaumont concluded that to Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, a “in febrile diatheses, very little or distance of nearly two thousand miles. no gastric juice is secreted. Hence the Here he remained until March, 1831, importance of with-holding food from and: the stomach in febrile complaints.” During this time, in the intervals of This does not agree with modern experimenting he performed all the duties practice, for even in typhoid fever of a common servant, chopping wood, the custom is to give a liberal allow- ance of food. I well recall that when Very little difference was perceptible a medical student at Yale, in 1878, our between this last parcel and that in the professor of surgery, David P. Smith, vial, digesting on the bath. The stomach used to say with great emphasis: had digested a little faster and more “Feed your patient.” perfectly than the vial. A series of twenty-three experi- As the result of this experiment he ments “were instituted with the view found “that a quantity of aliment, of ascertaining the relative difference taken out of the stomach twenty between natural and artificial diges- minutes after having been eaten, had a tion; to demonstrate the performance sufficient admixture of gastric juice of digestion out oj the stomach, by gas- to cause perfect digestion when placed tric juice; and, also, the continuation on the sand bath.” of the natural process, when taken out For experiment 26, St. Martin was during the period of chymification.” given at 3 o’clock, p.m., a meal which The first experiment in this series consisted of bread, salted lean beef, was inconclusive. He thought it proba- potatoes, and turnips, boiled. In ble “that different kinds of diet fifteen minutes digestion of the meat required different proportions of gas- was established. At the end of forty- tric juice for their solution” (see five minutes a second sample was page 157) and that “a given quantity taken “put in a vial, and placed in of the fluid acts on a definite propor- water, on the sand bath, at the tion of aliment, when it becomes temperature of the stomach” (ioo °f .). saturated, and is inadequate to pro- At the end of two hours a third sample duce any further effect. There is was removed and, like the second, always disturbance of the stomach placed in a vial on the sand bath. when more food has been received than Three hours after the meal, another there is gastric juice to act upon it.” sample was taken, and placed on the The second experiment (experiment sand bath. As the result of this 25) was more satisfactory. I give it experiment Beaumont found that in detail: “vegetables are less easily disposed of by the gastric organs, than animal Dec. 16. At 2 o’clock, f .m.—twenty minutes after having eaten an ordinary or farinaceous substances.” dinner of boiled, salted beef, bread, potatoes Experiment 27 demonstrated that and turnips, and drank a gill only of pure milk was coagulated by the gastric water, I took from his stomach, through juice before digestion took place, and the artificial opening, a gill of the con- experiment 30 showed that, although tents, into an open mouth vial. Digestion fresh egg albumen did not present the had evidently commenced, and was per- same mass coagulation as milk, it did ceptibly progressing, at the time. This vial present “small flocculi, or loose and contents were immediately placed in a coaguli.” Experiment 31 demon- basin of water, on the sand bath, at 90° or strated that cold gastric juice had ioo°, and continued there for five hours. little or no effect on food, but that The digestion of the contents continued to progress, until all was completed. when placed on the sand bath diges- At 7 o’clock—five hours after eating tion began and continued regularly. his dinner—I took out a gill of pure It also showed “that after the process chyme; no particles of undigested food of digestion has ceased, for want of a appeared in the mixture. sufficient quantity of gastric juice, it will recommence on the addition of a of a chemical agent; that it dissolves fresh supply.” aliment out of the stomach, when the Experiment 32 yielded unique warmth and motions of that organ are results. Four hours after eating a imitated; and that it changes the various breakfast of fat pork, bread and and heterogeneous articles, submitted to its action, to an uniform, homogeneous potatoes, Beaumont “took out a semi-fluid, varying, however, slightly in portion, in a complete chymous state, color and consistency, according to the without any entire particles of food aliment used. to be seen;” but he found it “con- siderably tinged with yellow bile.” Ten experiments were made “to Beaumont attributed the presence of ascertain, if practicable, what effects bile to the fact that St. Martin became were produced by the bile and pan - violently angry “about the time of creatic jui ce , when added to taking out this parcel.” chym e .” Since he was unable to In experiment 35 a meal consisting procure human bile, Beaumont made of a pint of milk and four ounces of use of beef’s gall, and in place of bread was digested “something pancreatic juice he used dilute hydro- shorter than the usual time for the chloric acid. Of necessity the experi- disposal of an ordinary meal. For ments were imperfect and the results those who have healthy and unsophis- unsatisfactory. ticated stomachs, milk appears to be This closes the account of the fifty- one of the best articles of diet we six experiments performed at Prairie possess”—a conclusion which is sup- du Chien. When it is taken into ported by modern practice. The consideration that they were per- succeeding eleven experiments showed formed with inadequate equipment, the digestibility of various articles of at an army outpost far removed from food. civilization, the accuracy of his obser- Beaumont thought that the experi- vations are all the more remarkable. ments thus far recorded “plainly The remaining experiments described demonstrate the solvent properties of in his book were performed elsewhere, the gastric juice. When aliment is and do not enter into this account of submitted to it out of the stomach, its Beaumont’s life at Fort Crawford. operation is rather slower than when Early in 1831 circumstances28 made the process of digestion is assisted by it expedient for St. Martin to return to the natural warmth and motions of that Canada, and this time he went with organ.” He thought the inability to the consent of Beaumont; for he felt maintain his sand bath at a constant sure that St. Martin would keep his temperature was one of the reasons promise to return for further experi- for the slower artificial digestion. W ith ments. In the meantime, however, the modern apparatus for maintaining Beaumont felt the need of such a constant temperature, this difficulty assistance as only a physiological could have been overcome. chemist could give. Knowing that That the cold gastric juice should not there was no reliable person in this act at all, or but imperfectly, on aliment, country, he applied for a furlough of is no proof, in my opinion, that it does not one year, to begin in September, possess solvent powers ... It is per- 1831, in order that he might go fectly manifest, that its operation is that abroad with St. Martin. On May 23, 1831, Surgeon-General Hawk Indian War,” which actually Lovell wrote Beaumont that as soon as began in the spring of 1832.29 Fort arrangements could be made to relieve Crawford was near the center of this disturbance, and Beaumont went out with the troops from the fort to take part in the hostilities. With the defeat of Black Hawk in the battles of July 21 and August 2, 1832, peace was restored and Beaumont returned with his regiment to Prairie du Chien. In the meantime Asiatic cholera broke out in the troops which were being rushed from Fortress Monroe and from New York harbor, and the disease was spread broadcast by the desertion of soldiers who attempted in this way to escape infection. Troops marching from Chicago to Fort Craw- ford carried the disease to Prairie du Chien and the Upper Mississippi. Although they did not reach the seat of war until after the conflict was over, they suffered more severely than the troops which took part in the conflict. These two events gave Beaumont new experiences; in fact the Black Hawk him, the furlough would be granted. War was afterwards called the Accordingly on July 13, 1831, “cholera campaign” in army circles. “Special Order No. 78” was issued Early in June, 1832, “Special from the adjutant-general’s office Order No. 79” was issued from directing Assistant-Surgeon Elwers to the adjutant-general’s office which relieve Beaumont, and permission was granted to Beaumont a six months’ granted to visit Europe. The way now furlough, with permission to visit seemed clear for Beaumont to carry Europe, “as soon as his services can out his plan to obtain the aid of the be dispensed with.” The Black Hawk physiological chemists in Europe. But War being over and the cholera just as he was ready to start, “Special epidemic under control, Colonel Order No. 127” was issued on October Zachary Taylor, the commandant at 24, 1831, stating that: “The public Fort Crawford, issued August 22, service will not permit the absence 1832, the final order which permitted of Surgeon Beaumont from duty at him to leave Fort Crawford and this time; accordingly the indulgence at the same time directed him to intended to have been accorded him attend the wounded militia as far as in Special Order No. 78 is recalled St. Louis where they were to be until otherwise directed.” left in the hospitals. He evidently The occasion of this recall was the left the following day, and after threatened outbreak of the “Black attending the wounded militia as far as St. Louis, immediately left for 19 years old” at the time of the acci- Plattsburgh. In September he dent; but if the statement of the Rev. reported himself, and his family, there, Mr. Chicome, the cure of St. Thomas,

“in quest of his man St. Martin,” who promptly, according to his be accepted as correct, he was twenty- promise, put in his appearance. live years old at that time. For an account of Beaumont’s After his desertion of Beaumont in disappointment in not being able to 1834, Alexis wandered from place to go to Europe, his further experiments, place, sometimes exhibiting himself the final desertion of St. Martin, his at different medical schools. Myer ill-treatment by the War Department, says “in 1870 he and his family were in his resignation from the U. S. Army, Cavendish, Vermont, where he earned and his life and death, April 23, 1853, his livelihood by ‘chopping wood by at St. Louis, the reader is referred to the cord.’” It must have been while the excellent account by Myer.5 he was living in Cavendish that the

Ale xis St . Mart in accompanying photograph was taken. In 1879 Alexis was back in St. Any account of “that old fistulous Thomas, Canada. There is no evidence Alexis” as he was termed by Beau- that Alexis ever visited England. mont in a letter to his cousin, Dr. Alexis Bigigan, dit St. Martin, died Samuel Beaumont, must follow the June 24, 1880, and Osler, at that scattered items in Beaumont’s book, time, was living in Montreal. He at the account by Myer5 or the more once took active measures to secure a extended account given by Osler.6 necropsy, or at least the stomach, but Beaumont says Alexis was “about was unsuccessful. Osler says: The family resisted ah requests, most was the son of Joseph North, Jr., and pressing as they were, on the part of the Lucy (Cowles) North. His father had a members of the medical profession for an reputation as a “bone setter” and, although he was not educated as a physician, he had studied for a short time with Dr. Joel Soper, a local physician.30 Elisha North began his medical studies with his father and later studied under Dr. Lemuel Hopkins of Hartford, Connecticut. In the spring of 1793, he was elected a member of the Connecticut Medical Society, and in the fall of the same year he entered the medical department of the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania, but did not remain for graduation. In 1797 he married Hannah Beach, of Goshen, and began the practice of medicine in his native town. In 1798, Jenner published his classic on vaccination with kine-pox as a preventative against smallpox, and in 1800, Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse31 and Dr. James Smith32 of Baltimore autopsy, and also kept the body at home much longer than usual and during a hot introduced vaccination into their local spell of weather, so as to allow decompo- practice. In May, 1801, North dis- sition to set in and baffle, as they thought, covered a cow-pox pustule on the the doctors of the surrounding country hand of one of his patients. This was and others. They had also the grave dug probably the first case found in this eight feet below the surface of the ground country. I do not know whether North in order to prevent any attempt at possessed a copy of Jenner’s book, but resurrection. I do know that he was intensely At the time of his death, Alexis interested in the subject, for I have was eighty-three years old; he left in my library his copy of John Red- a widow and four children. His widow man Coxe’s33 “Practical Observations survived him nearly seven years. on Vaccination or Inoculation for the During his later years Alexis became Cow-pox, ” with its well-studied addicted to drink, “almost a drunkard “colored engravings” depicting the one might say.” He was described, in different appearances of vaccine and his old age, as “a tall, lean man, with smallpox, from the third to the a very dark complexion, and appeared twentieth day. This copy does not of a morose disposition.” bear his well-known autograph; he evidently had a metal stamp of some Elis ha North kind, for in the center of the second Elisha North was born in Goshen, blank page there is the impression Connecticut, January 8, 1771, and “Elisha North’s.” Coxe knew of North’s case and he says that he he was an omnivorous reader is shown wrote to him asking for further infor- by his quotations from Servetus down mation, but apparently no reply was through Erasmus Darwin, John Hun- received. “Vaccination as it was prac- ter, Benjamin Rush, Bichat and John ticed in Goshen” forms Chapter vm Brown, to a writer of his own time, in North’s “Outlines of the Science of William Beaumont. Preceding his Life.” reference, in a lengthy footnote, to In the early part of the last century Beaumont’s work, he says: “The an epidemic of spotted fever, or stomach, like a wife, has more power cerebrospinal meningitis, swept at home than any other organ in the through New England and North had whole family of organs and parts: his share of cases. His treatment and it should be so, for the whole seems to have been more successful animal mass is very dependent on this than many of his fellow practitioners, very important part.” The footnote for he says: “I have myself treated itself is interesting in that it not only more than two hundred patients with contains abstracts from the first series this disease; of these I have lost two.” (1825) of Beaumont’s experiments, The results of his experience in this but also because in it North says that epidemic he eventually published in a he obtained his information “from a book entitled “A Treatise on a highly interesting manuscript, a part Malignant Epidemic, commonly of which has been published, loaned by called Spotted Fever.”34 my venerable friend, Dr. Swift.”36 In 1812, on the invitation of the As already stated, North owned a citizens of New London, Connecticut, copy of Beaumont’s “Experiments he removed to that city, and on July 1, and Observations” and, what is sur- 1812, he announced to the public that prising, he also had a sample of the he was ready to practice physic, sur- gastric juice from St. Martin’s gery and midwifery. Some years later stomach that had been given him by he added to these ophthalmology. Beaumont. I found within his copy of “His skill and interest in this last Beaumont, a number of manuscript specialty, ophthalmology, had caused notes dealing with this sample. The him to open an eye infirmary in New notes appear to have been, either London, in 1817, which was the first drafts of a letter to Beaumont, or else institution of its kind in this country” intended for publication in some (Steiner). periodical. No date is attached to any North published a number of short of these notes and it is impossible to articles in various medical and scientif- assign the exact year in which they ic journals, some of which appeared were written. Beaumont was, as before, and others after going to New Medical Director, on a tour of inspec- London. His most important publication of hospitals, at Fort Trumbull tion, after establishing himself in New (New London) in the spring of 1834. London, was his “Outlines of the North says his sample of gastric juice Science of Life.”35 Steiner describes was given him at the time Beaumont the book as being “Extremely discur- was in New London, and that he had sive, abounds in quotations from Pope kept it nearly six yeaps. This seems to and contains a quaint collection of establish 1839 or 1840 as the date pithy epigrammatic sayings.” That of the notes. The first two notes are in the form Dr. Beaumont had preserved gastric of “Memmoranda” and differ some- juice only eleven months when he pub- what, though in general they have the lished his book yet he might have done same phraseology. more in this single respect (the remainder of the paragraph missing). MEMORANDUM Can this vital fluid, if it be such, be pre- I have in my possession two drachms served without change as long as the of pure gastric juice which has been kept bones, teeth and hair, even when deprived in a small vial which has been — times of vitality? Was not the molecules of this uncorked to smell or taste the fluid. This E. N., M.D. juice was taken by Dr. Beaumont’s tube fluid once, if not now alive, like the blood, from the morbid perforation of the from which it is made? Or is this sugges- stomach of Alexis St. Martin, renowned tion too visionary? Some will think it so by misfortune. It has been kept among without doubt, yet the late Dr. Darwin my vials of medicine both summer and would . . . winter in a room generally without fire, p.s. If you make a record of the above and where water and liquors often freeze, experiment please to send one copy of the I have never seen it frozen though now same to me that I may know that the act is kept nearly six years. Dr. Beaumont had done. I may not live to cause it to be done preserved gastric juice 11 months only here after. Moreover may it not be partly when he published his book. Can this a chemical and partly a vital entity. fluid be preserved without change as long It is evident that North had read as the bones, teeth, and hair of a human being? Experiment 34 of the second series If you make a note of the above fact, or carefully, for I find the following experiment, please to send one copy of marked in his copy of Beaumont: the same to me. “The fluid in the vial had been taken E. N. out when the stomach was in a morbid condition, and had been permitted to The second note is incomplete. In get cold, even to the freezing point.” places the writing is so badly faded North evidently wanted to test the and the edges of the paper so much effect of cold on the gastric juice. worn that it is impossible to decipher Although the following continues the words. the discussion of Beaumont’s experi- memo ran dum ments, it does not appear to be a I have in my possession, two drachms of continuation of the above note which pure gastric juice, taken by Dr. Beau- apparently ended with the word mont’s tube, at my verbal request, from vitality; for he had placed his initials the morbid aperture of the stomach of just beneath. He then had an after- Alexis St. Martin who, like many others, thought, continued the note, and has been made renowned by misfortune. finally brought it to a close with a This fluid has been kept in my office both postscript: winter and summer nearly six years. It is preserved in a vial, which has only It is known that the vitality of some been uncorked occasionally to smell or vegetables and some animals is not taste the fluid. I have never noticed it to destroyed by frost. I have proved by be congealed (“frozen” crossed out), experiment that a like law exists in although watched for that purpose, yet regard to the human gastric juice, and for aqueous liquors and dead tissues would the first time in the annals of science. It often be frozen on the same shelf. may be curious, if not otherwise useful to record the fact. This juice is known to be . . . ? Do not the philanthropic Dr- a vital secretion done by the stomach, Beaumont’s 237 experiments, somewhat instead of a chemical retort. It must, confirm the common experience of man- therefore, be more physiological to regard kind as to what is proper to eat and drink, it a vital instead of a chemical menstrum. and how the act is to be done? If so the Neither do we regard the menstrous mislabour of the Grahamites37 can secretion as chemical. In illustration, two scarcely be wanted. The 8 years practice drachms of gastric juice was given me by of Dr. Beaumont upon the gastric juice of the well known Dr. Beaumont, when he St. Martin has been highly instructive to was in N.(ew) L.(ondon), as taken by his a part of the human race—both men and tube from the stomach of Alexis St. brutes can live without such instruction— Martin the once wounded and now provided they can get food and drink. mutilated Canadian. This has been kept in a small vial 6 years winter and summer, On another slip North discusses the in a room without a fire. I have seen it question of a National or a State frozen and thawed I know not how many currency, and he ends by saying: “We time. It is now as sweet, clear and fresh, want a National currency in preference as when it first came into my possession. to that of the States, i.e. many persons It could doubtless be made to digest do.” animal and vegetable food. It does not Apparently Dr. North could not freeze as readily as water. Would any other human juice or secretion resist the make up his mind whether he had or action of frost to such a degree as the had not seen his sample of gastric gastric juice? The menstrous secretion is juice frozen. First he says: “I have said to last for many years, whether never seen it frozen;” then “I have frozen and thawed is not told. never noticed it to be congealed;” finally he says “I have seen it frozen For a moment North’s mind and thawed I know not how many wanders from his subject and the times.” I may not have placed these following two lines are interposed: notes bearing on the question of the Motto: Every citizen may freely speak, freezing of the gastric juice in their write, and publish his sentiments on all proper order; but it appears to me subjects. the short “memmorandum” he first He now returns to his discussion of wrote had gradually developed into Beaumont’s experiments which had the longer one. for the moment been interrupted. The motto which was interpolated Possibly he had an idea of using the in the last note had been used by motto in connection with the publica- North in connection with Chapter tion of his “experiment.” vii of his “Science of Life.” It was taken from the political constitution Is there any pure chemical material of the State of Connecticut, and which will operate so readily upon such a reads in full as follows: Clause 5. multitude of very diversified substances “Every citizen may freely speak, and as is the case with gastric juice? Is there write, and publish his sentiments on any omnivorous menstrum like this under . . . among the purely chemical agents? all subjects, being responsible of the Is the gastric juice omnivorous, in the abuse of that liberty.” Clause 6. lowest grade of animal organization? Is “No law shall ever be passed to there any power, save the play of very controul the liberty of speech or of the limited affinitive (?) among chemical press.” The chapter, at which the above motto stands at the head, deals moderate perspiration, increases the with the rights of anatomists to secretions from the gastric cavity, and dissect the human body. produces an accumulation of a limpid fluid, Dr. North died December 29, 1843. within the stomach, slightly acid, and Had he lived ten days longer he would possessing the solvent properties of the have rounded out seventy-three years gastric juice in an inferior degree, [p. 94.] of life. It is dangerous to unsettle long estab- Some statements specially marked lished truths; for it is difficult to limit the extent of error. by Elisha North in his copy of Beau- The gratification of a morbid desire to mont’s “Experiments and Observa- be distinguished as the propagator of new tions:” principles in philosophy, or as the head of Dyspepsia is oftener the effect of over a new sect, is not the only result to be eating and over drinking than of any expected from such heresies (the Brunon- other cause, [p. 51.] ian theory). New opinions or doctrines, The nerves are the media of communi- whether true or false, will have admirers cation from the sensible parts to the cen- and followers, and will lead to practical ter of perceptions. They warn the results. And the errors of one man may encephalon not only of the injuries, but of lead thousands into the same vortex, the wants of the tissues, [p. 56.] [p. 100.] I am persuaded that moderate exercise When a healthy state of the stomach is conduces to healthy and rapid digestion restored, the tongue invariably becomes . . . Exercise, sufficient to produce clean, [p. 109.]

Note s 1. The original edition of Beaumont’s book by C. A. Browne of the Bureau of was printed at Plattsburgh, N. Y., in Chemistry, Washington, D. C. It seems 1833. In 1834, copies of the Platts- proper, therefore, to give some of the burgh edition were issued by Lilly, facts I have been able to find in regard Waite & Co., of Boston. In 1838, Dr. to this, at one time, manufacturing Andrew Combe issued an edition of chemist. Mr. A. J. Wall, Librarian of Beaumont at Edinburgh with notes. the New York Historical Society, has This he still further elaborated, and I been of material assistance in my have an edition issued in 1842, which search. bears the title “The Physiology of Hezekiah Harvey Baldwin was the son of Digestion, considered with relation to Hezekiah and Elizabeth (Hine) Bald- the Principles of Dietetics.” A second win and was born in Woodbridge, edition of Beaumont was issued at Conn., February 17, 1790. He gradu- Burlington, Vt., in 1847. This is a ated from Yale College in 1810, and reprint of the first edition with typo- became a manufacturing chemist in graphical and grammatical corrections New York City, a business quite by Dr. Samuel Beaumont, William profitable during the war of 1812, but Beaumont’s cousin. much hurt by the peace. According to 2. Two dollars was the retail price of the the index of New York deeds, he bought book. I find that on July 11, 1834, the real estate in New York City in 1813 Rev. Joseph Kemper, missionary Bishop and 1817. His property was sold by the in the ^Protestant Episcopal Church Sheriff in 1819. for the Northwest Territory, while on a F. B. Dexter’s “Biographical Sketches of tour to Green Bay, Wis., bought a copy the Graduates of Yale College” (6:298- for that amount. Wis. Hist. Col., 14:397, 299) says he was prepared for college by 1898. the Rev. Amasa Porter of Derby, Conn. 3. Hezekiah Harvey Baldwin’s name does After graduating from Yale he estab- not appear among the chemists listed lished himself in New York in the business of manufacturing sulphuric Digestive Glands. Trans, by W. H. acid and other chemicals. Thompson, Lond., 1902. A younger brother (Marcus Baldwin) had 10. Amino Acids. See Fischer, E. Unter- shown some aptness in chemical suchungen uber Amenos auren, Poly- research and analysis, and with the peptide und Protein. Berlin, 1906. encouragement of Dr. Isaac Goodsell of Hofmeister had nearly correct ideas of Woodbridge, he went to Paris about their linkage. Kossel conceived them as 1812 for study, and while there sur- the “Bausteine.” Our modern concep- reptitiously obtained a knowledge of tion of the importance of the amino the French methods of manufacture. group and peptid linkage comes from With this brother, Hezekiah entered Fischer. In assigning any historical into partnership in New York; but the authority for developing the amino close of the war with England broke up acids, probably one should, as Lusk a profitable business, and after that he does, cite the three names, Hofmeister, was not very successful. About 1824 he Kossel and Fischer. returned to Woodbridge, and after a 11. Magen die , F. Lehrbuch der Physiologie. long period of feebleness, died there Tubingen, 2: 29 1826. January 13, 1826. 12. Jack son , S. The Principles of Medicine, 4. Kell y , H. A. John R. Young, pioneer Founded on the Structure and Func- American physiologist. Johns Hopkins tions of the Animal Organism. Phila., Hosp. Bull., 29: 330, 1918. Miller , 1832. W. S. Thomas Ewell. In: Amer. Med. 13. vo n Fehl ing , H. Quantitative Bestim- Biographies. Balt. 1920, p. 373. mung des Zuckers in Harn. Arch. f. d. During the preparation of this manu- physiol. Heilk., 7: 64, 1848. script, Prof. W. J. Meek’s interesting paper “The Beginnings of American 14. Spal la nz ani , L. Experiences sur la digestion de I’homme et des differentes Physiology” appeared in the Anna ls especes d’animaux. Lausanne, 1785. of Medic al Histor y , io : iii , 1928. Prof. Meek has also in preparation a 15. Carl son , A. J. Control of Hunger in paper in which he discusses in detail not Health and Disease. Chicago, 1916. only the three theses mentioned in the 16. Boldyr ef f , W. The self-regulation of the text, but also other theses from the acidity of the gastric contents and the medical department of the University real acidity of the gastric juice. Quart. J. of Pennsylvania bearing on the same Exper. Physiol., 8: 1, 1914. subject, which appeared about the same 17. Phil ip , W. A Treatise on Indigestion and time. its Consequences. Lond., 1821. 5. Myer , J. S. Life and Letters of Dr. 18. James Lockwood was born in the town of William Beaumont. St. Louis, 1912. Peru. N. Y., in 1793. His parents Through the courtesy of the publishers, moved to Champlain, N. Y., in 1805. C. V. Mosby Co., permission was given In 1816 he was with the American Fur me to reproduce figures 2, 3, 4, 13 and Company at Green Bay, and later at 14. Prairie du Chien, at that time part of 6. Prout , W. On the nature of the acids and Michigan Territory. In 1830, he was saline matters usually existing in the Associate Judge of Crawford County, stomachs of animals. Phil. Trans. 1: 45, Wis., and in 1836 a member of the 1824. Wisconsin Territorial Legislature. He 7. The word “proteid” was first used by died August 25, 1857. Wis. Hist. Col., Hoppe-Seyler; it was later replaced by 2: 99, 172, 1856, and 3: 56, 1857. the word “protein” which was intro- 19. Little York, often called “Muddy Little duced by Mulder in 1839. York,” now Toronto, Canada. See 8. “Enzyme” was coined by W. Kiihne. Osler, Sir W. A Backwood Physiologist. See his paper “Ueber die Verdauung In his: Alabama Student. London, 1909, der Eiweisstoffe durch den Pankreas- pp. 179, 180. Also Lossing. The Pictorial saft.” Virchow’s Arcbiv, 39: 130, 1867. Field-book of the War of 1812. N. Y., 9. Pawl ow (Pavlo ff ), I. P. Work of the 1869, pp. 586-595. 20. The early name of Fort Mackinac was water mark. The troops abandoned the Fort Michilimackinac. fort and took possession of the higher 21. Mahon , B. E., Old Fort Crawford and ground east of the slough.” the Frontier. Publ. by State Historical 27. I am indebted to Dr. P. L. Scanlon, the Society of Iowa. Iowa City, 1926. local historian of Prairie du Chien, for 22. Robert Dickson, Indian Trader. Robert many personal communications, and Dickson emigrated from Dumfrieshire, for his courtesy during my visit to Scotland, to Canada. His name occurs Prairie du Chien. first in connection with a letter he wrote 28. Osler says that the “circumstances” were in 1795, describing the trade routes discontent and homesickness of Alexis’ between Mackinac and the Mississippi wife. See note 7. river. It is uncertain whether he was at 29. For the best account of the Black Hawk this time an independent trader or a War, see Thwaites, R. G. The story of partner in the Northwest Company. the Black Hawk War. Wis. Hist. Col., “The next twenty years of Dickson’s life 12: 217, 1892. were spent almost without interruption 30. Bolt on , H. C. Memoir of Dr. Elisha in the Indian country.” In the meantime North. Proc. Conn. Med. Soc., 3: 135, Dickson became connected, in some 1887, and Steiner, W. R. “Dr. Elisha capacity, with the Northwest Company North, one of Connecticut’s most and possessed great influence over the eminent medical practitioners. Bull. Indians. This was still further advanced Johns Hopkins Hosp., 19: 301, 1908. by his distributing among them in 1811, 31. Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse was born in “his entire stock of goods which cost Newport, R. I., March 4, 1754. He him at Montreal about $10,000,” to began his study of medicine, at the age alleviate the distress occasioned by the of sixteen, with Dr. John Halliburton failure of their crops owing to the great of Newport. In 1775 he went to London drouth during that summer. Dickson and studied for a time with his great was an ardent supporter of the British, uncle, Dr. John Fothergill; he next and because of his influence over the spent some time at Edinburgh and in Indians he was appointed, in 1813, 1779 went to Leyden where, in 1781, he “agent for the Indians west of the took his medical degree. In 1782 he Mississippi at a salary of £200 per returned to this country and in 1783 annum.” In the spring of 1815, he had became the first professor of theory a quarrel with the authorities and was and practice in the Harvard Medical dismissed from the service. For some School. He also held a professorship in years after this he continued to trade the Rhode Island College, now Brown with the Indians. Eventually he is said University, Providence, R. I. He was to have returned to Scotland and to one of the earliest practitioners to make have died there. See Cruikshank, E. A. use of vaccination for the prevention of Wis. Hist. Col., 12: 133, 1892. smallpox. He died October 2, 1842. 23. For an account of the capture of Fort An account of his relation to the introduc- Shelby by McKay, see Wis. Hist. Col., tion of vaccination into this country is 11: 265-68, 1888. found in Welch, W. H., Waterhouse, 24. For an account of the last days of the the Jenner of America, Phila., 1885. British at Prairie du Chien, see Wis. For an account of the attempt by Hist. Col., 13: 154, 162, 1895. Waterhouse to commercialize vaccina- 25. Atwa te r , C. Remarks made on a Tour tion by forming a vaccine trust, see to Prairie du Chien, thence to Washing- Spalding, J. A., Dr. Lyman Spalding, ton City. Columbus, Ohio, 1831. Boston, 1916, Chap. v. 26. Daniel S. Durrie in the Annals of Prairie 32. Dr. James Smith was born in Elkton, du Chien (p. 8) says: “In the month of Cecil County, Maryland, in 1771. He May, 1826, occurred a great flood of the was a graduate of Dickinson College and Mississippi, the highest of more modern a pupil of Benjamin Rush. Although he times. The water at Prairie du Chien had been preceded by Dr. John Craw- reaching twenty-six feet above low ford in 1800, in the use of vaccination, he “deserves to be called the Father of Cow-Pox.” He died March 22, 1864, Vaccination in Maryland, since he did aged ninety years. more than any one to promote its adop- 34. Nort h , E. A Treatise on a Malignant tion in this community.” He began to Epidemic, commonly called Spotted use the “virus on the first of May, 1801.” Fever. N. Y., 1811. (Cordell.) In 1809 he became vaccine 35. North , E. Outlines of the Science of agent, and in 1813 United States vaccine Life.” N. Y., 1829. agent, a position which he held until it 36. I have been unable to identify Dr. North’s was abolished in 1822. He died June 12, “venerable friend, Dr. Swift.” Dr. 1841, aged 69 years. Steiner writes me that he may possibly 33. John Redman Coxe was born in Trenton, be Dr. Isaac L. Swift of Litchfield, N. J., September 16, 1773. After Conn.; this place is about five miles studying medicine for a time in Edin- from Goshen, the place where North burgh and London, he returned to this was born and where he began the country and received his medical degree practice of medicine. Isaac L. Swift was from the University of Pennsylvania in apparently one of the original members 1794. Soon after graduating he went of the Connecticut State Medical again to London, Edinburgh and Paris, Society, being listed in 1793 as a mem- returning in 1796 to Philadelphia. He ber, the year after the establishment of was an enthusiastic advocate of vac- the State Society. cination, and published in 1802, at 37. Grahamites, followers of Sylvester Gra- Philadelphia, “Practical Observations ham (1794-1851) an American writer on Vaccination or Inoculation for the on dietetics.